Cooling Katrina-ravaged School District
Ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, the 744 square miles of Jackson County are considered the “Gateway to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.” The easternmost of three counties located on the Gulf of Mexico, it had a 2006 population of 134,000.Jackson County School District
Sixteen schools (elementary, middle and high) comprise the Jackson County School District, which encompasses all regions of the county not covered by the school districts of Pascagoula, Gautier, Ocean Springs and Moss Point. Katrina wreaked havoc with the roofs of all 16 schools, demolishing an entire elementary and a middle school six miles from the coast; the schools were totally submerged in the floodwaters.
Hurricane Katrina: Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal
Assistant Superintendent Hal Holmes oversees school maintenance for the Vancleave Schools, which are part of the Jackson County School District. For the past year he and Superintendent Rucks Robinson have been busy keeping schools open in temporary trailers, patching roofs, demolishing the two destroyed buildings and working with the district’s architectural firm on the design of two new schools. But hurricane damage and recovery were not the only challenges facing Jackson County Schools.
Ideal Solution for Quieting Chorus of Teacher Complaints
A year prior to the Katrina catastrophe, Holmes put in a call to Alex Weddington, the vice president of General Supply & Machine Co., Inc. (GS&M), Meridian, Miss.
One of Holmes’ engineers had just returned from an HVAC seminar organized by Weddington’s firm. The engineer was impressed with Weddington’s description of split-ductless systems from Mitsubishi Cooling and Heating Solutions, Suwanee, Ga. He urged Holmes to investigate immediately because the split-ductless systems seemed like an ideal solution for a growing chorus of complaints from Jackson County school teachers.
In 282 Jackson County schoolrooms, teachers were battling the clattering distraction from 15 (plus)-year-old window air-conditioning units. The noise often was so loud that teachers had to shut off the units in order to be heard by their students.
Holmes did call GS&M and within two weeks Weddington volunteered to remove an old window unit and install a Mitsubishi Electric test unit in one of the classrooms. In less than a few weeks of operation, the results were overwhelming. The test unit had provided the classroom, teacher and students with the best learning environment the teacher could ever remember. Quietness, low-humidity, comfort and an improvement in indoor air quality were just a few of the benefits.
Amazing 6-week Transformation
Holmes had the budget for replacing all of the inadequate and mismatched HVAC units in six of the older schools in Vancleave, Miss. After receiving a favorable bid from George C. Curry, Jr., president of Hub Mechanical Contractors, Hattiesburg, Miss., Holmes ordered 282 wall-mounted MSH24WN indoor units and 282 MUH24WN outdoor heat pump units for the Vancleave school rooms.
Thanks to a smooth, coordinated effort between Hub Mechanical, the school’s maintenance crews, a local electrical contractor and GS&M, the classroom transformation took place within the critical six weeks before the fall school season of 2005. “Holmes took the option for his crews to remove the old units,” Curry said. With the help of a local contractor, all electrical lines were upgraded and placed underground prior to Weddington’s timely delivery of the selected units to each school.
Ease and Speed of Installation
“Once the old, mismatched units were removed and the new, upgraded electrical service was in place, our Hub Mechanical crews were able to install 30 units a day,” Curry explained. “In my 50 years in the HVAC business, I have never been able to deliver this kind of performance so quickly and smoothly.”
Curry attributes the ease and speed of installation to the simplicity of the Mitsubishi Electric system’s design and technology. “We never could have achieved this level of efficiency with a different product. All we had to do was punch a 3-inch hole in an outside wall of each classroom, place the outdoor units on concrete pads supplied by GS&M, hang the indoor units next to the ceiling and run the refrigerant piping and electrical wiring to connect the outdoor units to the indoor units,” Curry said.
Good Fit for Us: Enhanced Teaching Environment
“This technology is a very good fit for us,” Holmes said. “Our teachers all love the improved teaching environment provided by the Mitsubishi Electric systems, especially the teachers who are challenged to keep the attention of elementary school children. With the old units, teachers could either shout and stay cool, or turn off the units to be heard in an oppressive classroom. With the extreme quietness of the split-ductless units —39dB(A) when running on low speed—most of our teachers simply couldn’t believe the silence of operation.
Holmes laughs and tells stories of teachers who, when the units were first turned on were in disbelief because they couldn’t hear any noise. “In fact,” Holmes said, “many of our teachers now are such believers in split-ductless systems, they have made private contact with George Curry to install these units in their own homes.”
Energy Savings and Many Other Benefits
Holmes says that besides the ease of installation, Mitsubishi Electric split-ductless systems offer other distinct benefits as well. He cites the reliability and ultra quietness of both indoor and outdoor units (outdoor units can be mounted directly under the classroom windows without any distraction); the moisture-removing dry mode results in much improved IAQ and room comfort levels (needed 11 months out of the year in coastal areas); the surprisingly effective reverse heat pump cycle which warms the rooms on the few cold days of the year; and the huge energy savings that his department is realizing now.
“The old units were energy hogs,” Holmes says. “With Mitsubishi Electric units drawing less than two amps per unit versus almost 40 amps with the old, we have already seen huge energy savings on power bills. Imagine 35 plus amps times 282 savings on each unit! Also, our old electric strip heaters were burning up countless kilowatt hours on the coldest days. With the split-ductless systems proving to be efficient while operating in the heat pump cycle, I had my crews remove all of the old strip heaters.” Holmes also mentions ease of maintenance as another accolade. “All we have to do each year is pull out the simple, life-time filter, wash it off and that’s it!”
Weddington estimates that because of these energy-saving features, Jackson County Schools are cooling each classroom for less than $1.00 per day. “This means that over a period of seven short years, the efficiencies of this technology will pay for itself. That’s unprecedented in this industry,” Weddington said.
Back to Katrina
Weddington, whose great grandfather started the family business in 1913 and lost his family home to Katrina, said, “The lessons we all learned were that the smallest things in life we take for granted (air, water, family, love) are priceless.” Holmes agrees with this.
With 8,600 students and 16 Jackson County School facilities, no one was hurt and only two buildings were demolished. “It could have been a lot worse,” Holmes said. “Thanks in part to putting the electrical service underground, the six schools who received the Mitsubishi Electric units two weeks before the hurricane only had minor roof damage. The outdoor units all made it through the storm: another testimony to an outstanding product.”
